Original subtitles

Storytelling...

that's how we make meaning

in our lives.

Even before we had movies

people told stories

over the campfire.

It's how we love each other and grow as communities.

And I think Warner Bros. has taken all the tools

and all the technology we have

and used that to tell those stories

that are essential to the fabric of what it means to be a human.

Warner Bros. has been transforming storytelling

for over 100 years.

Faced with the explosion of unprecedented technology

new corporate landscapes

and revolutionary cultural change

the studio would lead the industry

into the digital age.

Visual effects experienced a tremendous growth spurt

and we found ourselves having opportunities

to do things we just couldn't do before.

I will not be sidelined

sidetracked, or sidestepped.

I just don't think there's anything more important

than people being able to see their own stories.

It is the greatest sense of validation.

Women will be silent no more!

We're gonna make so many girls feel empowered

and feel capable

and dream big.

But through all of the tectonic shifts of the times

runs a 100-year-old commitment

to visionary creators and bold, authentic stories.

Now we are here to tell a new perspective

and we have the power and the knowledge to do so.

It's not about hiring filmmakers

and letting them do what they want.

It's about having a useful machine

to create something

that hopefully the audience hasn't seen before.

And to continue to educate, entertain

and enlighten us for generations to come.

As a storyteller, there is a responsibility

for the images, for the stories that we tell.

Clearly, it meant something

to the founders of this studio.

And I love that about Warner Bros.

And their mission and what they set out to do.

To uplift humanity through storytelling.

Damn it, I'm in.

- Five, four three, two, one! - Five, four three, two, one!

When the ball dropped on New Year's Eve 2000

the world welcomed the dawn of a new millennium

and the birth of the digital age.

The rise of the Internet

unleashed a frenzy of new business opportunities

sparking a gold rush of investments in the dot-com space.

But of all the new digital giants leading the Internet revolution

none was more dominant

than America Online.

You've got mail.

Determined to become the biggest media empire in the world

and flush with cash

AOL set their sights on Time Warner

kicking off the biggest

corporate merger in history.

I don't think it's too much to say this really is a historic moment

a time when we transform the landscape

of media and communications.

As the deal was announced

Warner Bros. promoted a slate of new leaders

who would have to navigate the shifting media landscape.

One day, Bob Daly called me.

He said, "Are you sitting down?"

I said, "Well, Bob, I'm...

I'm laying down because

it's six o'clock in the morning."

He said, "Oh, I forgot. I'm in New York."

So he said, "Terry and I are stepping down.

And we would like Barry Meyer

to run Bob Daly's job as chairman.

And we'd like you to come in

and be Terry Semel.

Alan Horn began working with Bob Daly and Terry Semel in 1996

after his company Castle Rock Entertainment

was acquired by Time Warner.

Warner Bros. was preeminent, dominant

best in class.

So the notion of running the place with Barry Meyer was very exciting.

I had been at the studio since 1971.

So I'd been there for...

you tell me what, 25 years.

Barry Meyer came to Warner Bros. as a business affairs executive

and rose through the ranks in the TV division

before stepping into the top job.

When I became CEO

I felt really, really well-groomed.

I felt that Bob and Terry had done a great job

and it was important for us to continue the legacy

and to keep this studio at the forefront

of the motion picture community.

But it would be a tough road ahead for Horn and Meyer.

Welcome.

With a new corporate parent

aimed at keeping Americans at home and online

Warner Bros. felt compelled to do the opposite.

Get people off of their couches and into movie theaters.

When I came in, I said

"I want to do tentpole movies with size and scale."

Because I felt those are the pictures

that will drive the success of the company.

We need to give the audience member

a reason to sit down and watch this on a big screen.

Horn's vision would be realized through a children's book

by an unknown British writer.

It had not been published in the United States yet.

It was barely just published in the UK.

The first Harry Potter book was found by David Heyman

who was a production executive who worked for us in London.

The writing was so vivid

the characters, so relatable

the world so richly realized

imagined.

It was a story that I related to.

Who wouldn't want to go to a magic school like Hogwarts?

A dark and complex coming of age saga

set at a magical British boarding school

Warner Bros. saw its potential

to revolutionize family entertainment

and optioned the still-unfinished series

from first-time author J.K. Rowling.

Then the books came out

and became a gigantic worldwide bestseller.

- Three, two, one! - Three, two, one!

All of a sudden, the decision to make the Harry Potter film

was really, you know, a no-brainer.

The challenge, of course, was presenting something

to an audience that's already in love

with the underlying literary property.

If they don't like it, they really don't like it.

There was a tremendous amount of terror.

Because this was the most popular book

in the world at the time

and if I screwed up, I killed the franchise.

The director behind family classics like Home Alone and Mrs. Doubtfire

Chris Columbus was chosen to direct

for his unique ability to work with children.

But Columbus had never taken on a fantasy franchise

of this magnitude before.

It was a frightening experience in making the first film

because the first film was setting the map

for every subsequent film that was gonna follow.

So I was flown out to Scotland to meet with J.K. Rowling

and she said, "Tell me your vision for the film."

And I said the first one has to be this inviting

almost storybook quality film

where Harry is invited into the world of Hogwarts

and we fall in love with it.

But then in the second film, it gets darker.

And by the time we get to Prisoner of Azkaban

things get really dark and really complex.

And I didn't know what she was gonna say.

And she said, "Well, that's exactly how I see the film."

One, two, three... action!

I remember the first film

was very much a case of, like

"How do we do any of this?"

Like working out how to do Hagrid

or working out how to do Quidditch.

We didn't know how to do any of that stuff.

New technology allowed Columbus and his team

to achieve never before seen visual effects

that felt like true magic.

You're a wizard, Harry.

Even as a kid, you did have a sense on Potter, of like

"Oh, I'm working with the best people in the world.

Figuring out how to make these things come to life."

I was completely amazed by the scale of it

and by the visual effects

obviously, by the story

and I fell in love with it.

I find that there was a universe

that was very complex.

I remember Alan and I flying to London

to see the first cut.

And when the movie was over

the two of us got up and just hugged each other.

The first Harry Potter film opened to critical and box office success

kickstarting a global franchise that would transform the industry.

and captivate a generation.

People didn't just want to see the movies and go home.

They wanted to feel a part of these places

and it built these huge communities

around things that they all loved.

And that really showed that these franchises are infinitely valuable.

With the potential for Harry Potter only just beginning

it seemed Warner Bros. had cracked the secret

to mega-franchise success.

But the studio's triumph couldn't mask the turmoil unfolding

at the new AOL Time Warner.

We had different goals.

The thing with the AOL guys

is they always felt that

they just wanted to get the stock up

so they could cash out and move on.

Pump the revenue as best you can at whatever the cost was.

That wasn't the way we ran the company.

You had two very different cultures trying to work together.

And it just didn't make sense from the beginning.

And right around that same time

the dot-com bubble burst.

New warnings today about falling corporate profits

sent the Dow down 292 points

the Nasdaq lost 109.

And suddenly, the value of AOL wasn't necessarily what it once was.

A horrible, horrible deal.

Cost me a lot of money

and it cost everybody a lot of money.

It was a dark time.

And it's certainly been written

about ad nauseum.

It, you know, has been described

as the one of the worst business deals in the history of business.

As Time Warner's stock plummeted

the pressure to keep the sinking ship afloat

rested on the studio's shoulders.

And one division in particular.

Warner Bros. Television.

When I came to Warner Bros.

the single most important goal

was to bring in a whole new array

of what I considered to be the best

most talented, most compelling producers in all of television.

Hire the right people

and get out of their way and let them do their thing.

In his new role

Peter Roth would bet big

on creative mavericks

to push the boundaries of TV.

I was handed many scripts

most of which I didn't particularly care for.

But I read this one script called The West Wing, which I loved.

I pick up the phone

I call Aaron Sorkin.

I say, "Hey, Aaron, I just want you to know

this script is extraordinary."

I do have to acknowledge and admit to you, though

in the history of broadcast television

there has never been a hit set in Washington, D.C.

There was no reason that anybody should have thought that

that show was gonna work.

There was a tremendous amount of research

that NBC showed me

that people, literally

when you ask them do they wanna watch

a show about politics, said, "Absolutely not."

But the fact that it's never worked before

doesn't mean that it can't work now.

And executed as brilliantly as this?

Why not?

Take seven.

The rhythm of Aaron's writing is very specific.

Not every actor can do it.

Is Josh on his way out?

- No. No. - Is he?

I know he's your friend.

- He is. - Did Caldwell say...

Billy, I'm not talking about this.

That...

When you try to cut it together, then it's really cutty.

If you stand back from it, it feels like you're in the theater.

And so Tommy Schlamme, who directed the pilot

his solution to that was let's move it.

Don't kill the messenger, Leo.

Oh, why the hell not, Bonnie?

- Five minutes? - Please.

The movement itself will help with the rhythm of it.

It became its own very specific thing in Tommy's hands on West Wing.

You gotta work with these people.

And where the hell do you get off strutting your...

- I know. - Al Caldwell's a good man.

Al Caldwell wasn't there.

I'm saying, you take everyone on the Christian right

dump 'em into one big pile, and label them "stupid".

I literally leapt up as I saw that first tracking shot and saying

"Oh, my God, this is like out of Scorsese!"

It was so beautifully written, so compelling.

Such an idealized version of the White House

that we all desperately needed to see.

There's a promise that I ask everyone who works here to make

never doubt that a small group of thoughtful and committed citizens

can change the world.

Do you know why?

It's the only thing that ever has.

We heard from many, many people who went into public service

having watched The West Wing.

It brought something to television

that I think had not been on television before.

I don't think it can be denied that the one-hour drama

really elevated with shows like The West Wing.

This idea of television

that could rival what we see on the big screen

shows like The West Wing were integral

in what we now consider the heyday of peak TV.

You do not look old enough to have a daughter.

And you do not look like a daughter.

That's possibly very sweet of you.

By the early 2000s

television was in the midst of a creative renaissance

known as the Golden Age of TV.

My past is not your future.

Wow, you're cool.

With genre-defining new hits from Warner Bros.

Your real parents weren't exactly from around here.

All right, let's move it.

As the studio's most iconic TV phenomenons

continued to rule the ratings...

We win!

...this period of Warner Bros. Television

launched the careers of some of the biggest stars of the era

including ER heartthrob George Clooney.

With ER, it was a magical five years, and then my contract was up

and I didn't wanna renew

'cause I was already doing movies

and I was making a pretty good living

and, you know, every movie I did was...

the article would lead with, you know

"He's not gonna be a movie star."

There was a big stigma between television and film at the time.

Clooney's rise to movie stardom was not an overnight success.

even after taking on one of the most prized roles in Hollywood.

Hi, Freeze. I'm Batman.

Batman and Robin was a big, big flop

and critically just murdered for it.

Suddenly because you were someone who could green light a film

they were reviewing you based on the film.

So you're getting killed for a movie that you just thought

"Well, I just said yes to an acting job."

And so I had to change how I thought about it, going

"Well, if I'm gonna get blamed for the film

then I better pick better films."

Come on, you bitch!

A Perfect Storm was such a massive hit.

It had nothing to do with me. It's a movie about a big wave.

But I said, "Since I took so much shit for Batman and Robin

I'm gonna take all the credit for this."

After becoming a bankable name

Clooney would utilize his relationship with Warner Bros.

to redefine what a modern movie star looks like.

It's never been done before.

It's gonna need planning. A large crew.

Clooney form a production company with director Steven Soderbergh

and the pair gambled on a modern reimagining

of a Warner Bros. Rat Pack classic, Ocean's Eleven.

Ocean's was a property that I didn't think Steven would wanna do

because he was kind of this independent auteur.

And he said, "I know how to do this.

We have to populate it with big stars."

What, did you guys get a group rate or something?

Hang on to your knickers.

The house always wins.

Unless when that perfect hand comes along, you bet big...

and then you take the house.

Been practicing that speech, haven't you?

Little bit. Did I rush? It felt like I was.

No, it was good. I liked it.

Ocean's Eleven's success at the box office

delivered a tentpole hit for Warner Bros.

that would pay out for years to come.

But Clooney would take his goodwill at the studio

and cash in for something more personal.

We were trying to do the "one for us, one for them."

And that was a fair deal, you know.

Clint always did that

which was "I'll do a big commercial film

and let me do my little film."

We must not confuse dissent

with disloyalty.

We cannot defend freedom abroad

by deserting it at home.

Both behind and in front of the camera

Clooney set out to build on the studio's legacy

of socially conscious filmmaking.

Why am I being investigated, Fred?

Drop it.

These are movies that talk

about really serious issues.

And Warner Bros. was willing

to take big chances.

Relationships with people like George Clooney

were critical to the studio.

If the relationship is good

these very talented people come back.

So it's helpful to have a project that resonates with them.

They kill them, Michael.

Those small farms, the family farms.

Michael Clayton is a hard film to even consider getting made.

That's not some easy film to swallow.

I was very angry when I wrote that movie.

This case in the movie is based

on a real case that happened.

It's about the moment where people decide to do the wrong thing.

And I have to say, Warners

you know, when we sat them down, they said

"You know, you're gonna piss off some people."

And we were like, "What does that mean for you guys?"

And they were like, "Who cares? Let's go."

I'm not the guy that you kill. I'm the guy that you buy.

Are you so fucking blind you don't even see what I am?

Truly, forever

I will have this place in my heart for Warner Bros.

because of, I felt that they were very brave

at times that were not easy to be very brave.

Clooney's pursuit of meaningful stories with Warner Bros.

culminated with the 2012 film Argo.

Originally, I was gonna play the part and we were gonna do it.

And then Ben called up.

And Ben had just done couple of films before that were really good.

And he said, "I wanna direct it." And I was like, "Great."

And he goes, "And I want to play the part."

I was like, "Fuck!"

I need you to help me make a fake movie.

So you wanna come to Hollywood and act like a big shot.

- Yeah. - Without actually doing anything.

- No. - You'll fit right in.

He took the script in a different direction than we were.

Our version of Argo was funnier.

And he was like, "I think there's more of a thriller in this as well."

Good, what's your job in the movie?

Producer, associate producer.

What was the last movie you produced?

- What's your middle name? - Leon.

Shoot him. He's an American spy.

You really believe your little story's gonna make a difference

when there's a gun to our heads?

I think my story is the only thing between you and a gun to your head.

They are calling the operation.

I'm taking it through.

- You don't decide if it goes. - One-way whorehouse mirror.

It is going.

And he did a beautiful job with that and it won Best Picture.

To see good films on the big screen

the kind of films that are not guaranteed to make it

it's very difficult.

And I don't wanna crap on the tentpole films

'cause I enjoy them and I actually think they're good for us.

But it can't be that at the expense of the films that... that mark you.

And I'm hopeful that those will still find their way.

Throughout the digital age

Warner Bros. was able to keep

a foot on both sides of the filmmaking divide.

No one gives it to you.

You have to take it.

Releasing a balance of artistically daring work to critical acclaim...

This is the time to build our nation.

Hiya, fellas.

And record smashing event films with sequels that kept on giving.

The enemy is preparing for war.

But an ambitious new auteur at the studio

had a vision for a film

that would transcend the dichotomy altogether.

I felt an increasing separation between serious drama

and the big blockbusters that were using the CGI at the time.

I've always hated that divide because I feel that as a filmmaker

you wanna try to blur those boundaries

to create something

that hopefully the audience

hasn't seen before.

After taking the industry by storm

with his mind-bending feature, Memento

Director Christopher Nolan made a home at Warner Bros.

with the 2002 noir thriller, Insomnia.

Did you try to impress me?

Because you about to die.

But the young auteur was about to break new ground

with the studio's most iconic vigilante

who was ripe for a reinvention.

They were at a point with Batman

where the previous iteration of the franchise

had somewhat run out of steam

and they didn't really know what they wanted to do with it.

When Tim Burton took on the character

he made this absolutely brilliant, an extraordinary world

within which the character was also extraordinary.

But what hadn't happened was the sort of other version of it

where you allow Batman to be this extraordinary figure

but you try and portray a relatively realistic world.

And that was my pitch to Warner Bros. is

let's look at giving everything

a grounded sense in a cinematic world.

And I thought, "This guy has a take on Batman."

Very, very smart.

I think his English accent helped.

That always gives you 10 degrees more intelligence

in the eyes of those listening.

But anyway

we had a great meeting with him, and he was just so impressive.

So off we went.

Sold on Nolan's vision of bringing Batman into the real world

Warner Bros. handed over the reins

to one of their most prized properties.

and a budget bigger than anything Nolan had taken on before.

With Batman Begins, the scary thing

was really the scale of it

and how we were gonna deliver

this incredible visuals.

Christopher always been attracted to making films

that really make audiences feel like

they can touch what it is that they're watching.

And doing everything that practically as possible on this film

was really how he wanted to achieve that.

I really try to get the scope and scale and relatability

of any sort of action cinema

not just comic book cinema.

And so we did a lot with miniatures.

We shot on real locations.

We went around the world with the films.

With this idea that Batman is, in some sense, is not a superhero.

I like to joke that if he has a superpower, it's great wealth.

So he's able to buy things and put together all kinds of assets

that he can utilize in his fight against crime.

So what do you think?

Does it come in black?

There's nothing magic about the character.

And that makes him relatable.

We could, any of us, in theory, be Batman.

What the hell are you?

I'm Batman.

Chris gave it a credibility that made me feel

that this was not a comic book character.

I felt that... He felt real to me.

Batman Begins reinvented the superhero origin story.

But Nolan would push his vision even further

with a genre-defying villain.

Once we've created that contemporary more realistic world

we wanted to try and figure out

what might the Joker be in that?

Whatever doesn't kill you simply makes you...

Stranger.

For everything you can say about any superhero movie

that happened before this

none of them approached it

with the crime thriller approach

that Chris Nolan did.

It was one of the best film series to ever happen

one of the best franchises to ever happen

and obviously, as one of the best superhero movies

to ever happen here at Warner Bros.

The Dark Knight became the highest grossing film of 2008.

But its true legacy went beyond just box office numbers.

The Dark Knight had great cultural resonance

and it definitely felt like

we might actually get a best picture nomination as superhero maybe

but it didn't happen.

And subsequently, the next year

The Academy move to ten Best Picture nominees

and I've heard it coldly Dark Knight rule.

Christopher Nolan ignited what would become

a flourishing new movement in large-scale filmmaking.

Why is it so important to dream?

In my dreams, we're still together.

We filmed a lot on the stages here. Stage 16, in particular.

And that's the largest stage in Hollywood

the tallest stage that was famously lifted up

to give more ceiling height.

We shot at our Japanese castle set

where the windows are blown in with water cannons.

Over the next decade at Warner Bros.

he would push the genre to bigger and more personal heights

Redefining what a blockbuster film could be.

Whether it be The Dark Knight

whether it be our chances for interstellar travel

whatever it is, he wants to bring that concept

into the most cinematic lighting and framing possible

to tell a compelling story.

It's enormously important

that individual voices have been nurtured through the studio system.

I felt very looked after.

And I really enjoyed the feeling of the security

of an experienced studio around me.

A machine that could be brought

to bear on my creative impulses.

It felt like a tremendous privilege

to be working in that system.

While Warner Bros. continued its storied history

working with some of the biggest names in the business

there was one place on the lot every celebrity wanted to be.

Seven, six

- five, four... - There you go.

- three, two, one... - Ready, A?

Roy, tech right up.

The Ellen DeGeneres Show.

With a rotating list of Hollywood's biggest stars

Ellen ruled the daytime scene

for almost 20 years.

You guys are doing pretty good.

Yeah.

But before she was on a first name basis

with all of America

Ellen's daytime dominance seemed almost unthinkable.

A lot of people didn't think

that it would work.

A lot of people thought

it's housewives at home during the day

doing their ironing, you know

and... and, you know, wearing their aprons

and they're not gonna watch a lesbian during the day, and...

Of course, that made me mad and upset

because they also didn't watch a lesbian at night.

So I had no time.

There was no time for lesbian on television.

Ellen DeGeneres made television history in 1997

when she came out as gay in her sitcom Ellen.

She revealed her secret to her therapist on the show.

Played by Oprah Winfrey.

I didn't even give it a second thought.

Ellen asked and I said yes.

It wasn't until after I did it

that I realized, "Oh, this was a very... big deal."

We do not want the gay and lesbian lifestyle

paraded in the living rooms

of America's homes.

This was the '90s, and we hadn't really seen a show

with a lead who had been gay.

I was supposedly "untouchable" and no one was hiring me.

A couple years later, when it came time

for The Rosie O'Donnell Show to go off the air

Warner Bros. needed a new marquee talk show host.

For a mainstream daytime talk show

to feature a lesbian comedian at its heart

was a huge risk on the part of Warner Bros.

Once I agreed to do the show

Warner Bros. had a hard time selling the show.

I remember the most common remark.

The station managers would say

"She doesn't even curse. She's not even dirty."

I was like, "Fuckin' A."

I think there were a lot of people

who just didn't think that would work.

Here she is now, Ellen DeGeneres!

And it couldn't have been more wrong.

Okay, so these are my offices right here

on the Warner Bros. lot. It's very exciting

'cause now there's all kinds of things going on here.

I can do anything I want.

"G. Clooney."

Which of these two do you like?

That makes me wonder what she's worried about

Or does my breath... You know, when you do the...

- Yeah. - Like that? Like that, yeah.

- So maybe you should - Get me a mint.

You can't throw a stone without hitting somebody in the face.

You just throw the stone...

- Oh, my God! - Oh, Julia Louis-Dreyfus.

- What the fuck was that? - Sorry.

- What the fuck was that, Ellen? - Sorry.

The Ellen DeGeneres Show, 19 seasons.

There was a long run there

for a reason.

The key, sort of

watchword for Ellen was "fun."

The fact that she started every episode with the dancing.

It made you laugh. It made you feel good.

It was the bright spot in your day.

Just spend a little time with Ellen.

I'm grateful that I could make a difference

and giving a face and a voice to people

who are feeling alone

and not represented on television.

The secret to having a great talk show

is the ability to be 100 percent fully yourself.

And that's what the audience is looking for.

Ellen found a way to be more and more real.

While Ellen was conquering daytime

a new genre was taking over prime time.

Oh, my God!

Unscripted television.

In the early 2000s

Warner Bros. got in on the ground floor

with a genre-defining dating series

The Bachelor.

What if we were to do a show

in which a guy is looking to find the love of his life

and introduced to 25 gorgeous women

all of whom aspire to be his wife?

If you think about it, it's Prince Charming come to light.

Let's welcome our new bachelor

A heartfelt twist on the competition shows of the time

the 2002 premiere of The Bachelor

sparked the reality romance phenomenon.

The show has just grown and grown and grown.

Not just here in the United States

but literally around the world.

People want to see real people.

They're rooting for the love story.

The Bachelor kicked off an unscripted studio division

That chased pop culture.

Yes!

And celebrated ordinary people.

A violin has strings and a fiddle has strangs.

Boy, you my man!

I've been waiting a year and a half

to find out

about my great-grandparents.

Come on!

Oh, you want me to come too?

Oh, lord.

This is Harry Potter:

Hogwarts Tournament of Houses.

As television began overflowing with new content

Warner Bros. doubled down on a tried-and-true format.

The sitcom.

I thought, "Who can I make a deal with

that can change the course of our fare in comedy?"

And number one on my list back in 1999 was Chuck Lorre.

We made a four-year deal, the most expensive deal

in the history of television of comedy creators.

It was terrible.

I had a four-year deal

and for three years

I just sucked eggs.

If I walked into the commissary

none of those executives would look up

from their Cobb salad and look at me.

And then, literally, in the last half year...

I got involved with a project that became Two and a Half Men.

You reupholstered the couch

and I like it better the way it was.

Stained?

Hey, every one of those stains had a story behind it.

A modern take on The Odd Couple

Two and a Half Men

co-starred Charlie Sheen as a hard-partying playboy

with a taste for the double entendre.

Charlie to base camp. I can see the summit.

But in 2007, Chuck Lorre stumbled onto an idea

that would redefine the culture of cool.

It began with Bill Prady

who, back in the '80s

when he was a computer programmer in New York

and he told me about the guys he worked with who were brilliant

but entirely dysfunctional.

Geniuses who could rattle off pi to 80 places

but couldn't talk to women.

Just go mute.

And I remember going, "Bill, that's our show."

"Those guys!"

You can start

sorting protons and neutrons

while I build carbon atoms.

The one thing we learned was

the audience viewed the guys as children...

Bazinga.

...'cause they were very naive and childlike.

Oh, no!

See, this is why I wanted to have a costume meeting.

And they didn't want anybody around them

who might be hostile or didn't care for them.

So, Klingon Boggle?

It was a wonderful maternal quality that Kaley brought to the role.

She was bemused by them, occasionally perturbed by them

but always gentle with them.

This is really impressive.

I have a board. If you like boards, this is my board.

I think the guys felt alienated from the rest of the world.

The culture at large, perhaps.

And their solution to that separateness

was they had each other.

They created a community amongst themselves.

We went to Comic-Con that summer and it was standing room only.

I could not stay away.

There were people crying just to see these actors

like they were the Beatles.

And I went, "Oh, something's happening on this show

that never could have been anticipated."

The Big Bang Theory mixed a lot of things

that were in the popular culture at the moment.

The rise of Comic-Con

and fandom becoming much more than just a niche

but something that was celebrated in the popular culture

and in the mainstream.

That was front and center in The Big Bang Theory

and they really embraced that.

Two and a Half Men and The Big Bang Theory

cemented Chuck Lorre as a formidable television auteur

at Warner Bros., who was just getting started.

Yes! That's it!

Mike And Molly to Mom

to Young Sheldon

to Bob Hearts Abishola...

- Tequila? - Many shots.

And you paid for it.

Hit after hit after hit.

It's been one of the most successful relationships

certainly of my career and, frankly, of Warner Bros. Television.

As Chuck Lorre reigned over a sitcom kingdom

a regime change was underway in the C-suite.

After 12 years leading the studio

Barry Meyer and Alan Horn stepped down.

Steering the studio's ship

through the digital age

Meyer and Horn oversaw a flourishing period

of creative and financial boom at Warner Bros.

They passed the torch to a new leader in 2013

who planned to bring Warner Bros.

to the front lines

of the superhero studio wars.

Kevin Tsujihara really wanted to expand the DC Universe.

And they wanted to expand it as quickly as they could.

Because Marvel had been doing multiple movies.

The new era of DC expansion began on television

from Warner Bros.'

veteran showrunner Greg Berlanti

with a superhero soap opera, Arrow.

Greg Berlanti changed the course of our company and of DC.

Starting with Arrow, and then Flash

and then Legends of Tomorrow.

And then Supergirl.

Known as the Arrowverse

Berlanti's interconnected world

fed an insatiable appetite.

But Kevin Tsujihara had ambitious plans

to compete with Marvel

on the big screen.

With the triumphant return

of the most iconic superhero of all time.

You will give the people of Earth an ideal to strive towards.

In time, you will help them accomplish wonders.

Man of Steel marked Warner Bros.' official launch

of the DC Extended Universe.

You're gonna go to war.

That son of a bitch brought the war to us.

From the ultimate superhero face-off

to a motley crew of supervillains

DC was reshaping the comic-book film landscape.

But an up-and-coming filmmaker

was about to breathe new life into a long dormant hero.

We always wanted to break that action-comic-book ceiling.

We felt that Wonder Woman would be the one to do it.

I think I was about eight or nine

when I first saw Wonder Woman.

I was like a moth to the flame of the image

the symbolism, the delight.

And ever since that time

I never lost my desire to tell a universal story

that brings beauty into people's life and inspires them.

And so after I made Monster and had some success

I went to Warner Bros., I said, "I want to direct Wonder Woman."

With a lifelong passion for the character

Patty Jenkins' unique vision

for DC's first female superhero won over Warner Bros.

But the studio would be taking

an Amazon-sized risk on a filmmaker

with no experience helming a big budget action film.

There's a history of female superhero movies

being thought not to work.

And so I definitely felt the pressure every day.

On the other hand, I was given the great gift of Gal Gadot.

When Patty and I met, it was love at first sight.

From the first moment

we've both wanted to tell

the same story.

We didn't want to think about Wonder Woman

as tough and hard and cold.

We wanted her to be a true woman.

Like the way women are.

- We need to help these people. - We have to stay on mission.

- So what? So we do nothing? - No.

We can't save everyone in this war.

This is not what we came here to do.

Often, superhero movies are all about the bad guy.

Wonder Woman was not at all about the bad guy.

It was about Wonder Woman's journey

to becoming a hero and her birth into the world.

- Fire! - Fire!

That's why superhero comic books were written in the first place.

They were about, "What would you do with great power

and how can you be a hero in the world?"

I rose up.

I was standing

in the seats of the theater with Gal

and my daughter said, "Mom, I never really understood

why people were so enthralled with you and Wonder Woman

till I saw Gal."

It's not just a cartoon character.

It is much more than that.

Wonder Woman's impact went far beyond the big screen

becoming a symbol of female empowerment.

Patty Jenkins' Wonder Woman

opened up a new space

especially for young women and girls

to have a sense of themselves as powerful.

Wonder Woman broke down the walls of what a superhero could be.

But Warner Bros. would push the boundaries even further

devoting an entire film to a notorious villain.

I wasn't so much a comic book guy.

I loved the movies.

I certainly loved the Chris Nolan films.

But I really wanted to do a character study

a movie about a singular person.

I always loved what the Joker character represents

in the comics and the films.

I thought, "Boy, if we can get a great actor to play that part

we could really do a deep dive into why this person is this way."

What, you think that's funny?

It was a hard script to say yes to

because it was a dark film.

It was an antihero protagonist.

It took place in the DC world. There'd been a Joker

but this was gonna be a different Joker played by a different actor.

But the studio loved the screenplay, you know.

Everyone who read the script just said

"Wow, this could be something great."

So we took the shot.

Is it just me

or is it getting crazier out there?

I've been around a lot of great actors.

But nobody quite like Joaquin.

He really went in deep.

And really felt like he became Arthur/Joker.

In one particular scene

he had killed these three Wall Street guys on the subway

and he was supposed to run into this rundown bathroom

and hide the gun.

And Joaquin brought up a thing going

"Why is Arthur hiding the gun?"

And so I said, "Yeah, let's not do that.

Let's do something else."

And we just... him and I alone, sat in this bathroom

for 45 minutes, thinking what else could we do.

And I said to him, "I got this great new piece of music from Hildur,"

who's our composer.

And I played the music, and Joaquin just started moving to it.

And then he kind of improvised this gorgeous dance.

And it was like, really quickly, we realized, "Oh, that's the scene.

This is the moment. This is the metamorphosis.

This is where he first feels Joker coming out of him."

- What do you get... - I don't think so.

when you cross a mentally ill loner

with a society that abandons him and treats him like trash?

- Call the police, Gene. - I'll tell you what you get.

- Call the police. - You get what you fucking deserve!

New Joker film opening nationwide today

is sparking fears of real-life violence.

That was a scary time.

America's changed

gun violence has changed so much in the last decade.

And there'd been a shooting once in a Batman film.

We never thought the film would incite violence.

But you never know if people... how people will misinterpret art.

So we took every measure we could

to make sure that that wasn't gonna happen.

It was a relief when the film came out.

People understood the film

that violence is a destructive force and a hurtful force.

A bold departure from the comic book genre

Joker was hailed as a triumph.

Nominated for 11 Oscars and winning two

it became the highest grossing R-rated movie of all time.

Hands up.

You know, New York is considerably more interesting than I expected.

By the late 2010s, the path to box office success

was dominated by supercharged mega franchises.

To find a hit with mass appeal outside the tentpole world

Warner Bros. embraced an unexpected filmmaker

determined to make a new kind of impact.

The fact that Warner Bros. is a steward of stories

to not just America but the world

that's a huge responsibility.

But for me to be one little piece of that history

I mean, I can't even believe that...

that I'm here right now.

After a string of high-profile blockbusters

Director Jon Chu was one of Hollywood's fastest rising stars.

But after a decade in the industry

Chu had a realization

that would send him down a more personal path.

I'd been hearing this stuff from the industry itself

"You can't hire this person or that couple.

They don't sell internationally or that."

So I realized all that stuff was backwards and it was like in me.

And if I wanted to actually put an all-Asian cast in a movie

I'm one of the only people who could do that.

And so that's when I found Crazy Rich Asians.

My mom, my sister, my cousin

they all told me, "You got to read this book."

Come to Singapore.

I think it's about time people met my beautiful girlfriend.

At the center of it, what touched me was this story

about Rachel Chu

who's an Asian-American going to Asia for the first time.

That's exactly my experience of going to Hong Kong.

And I really zeroed in on that for Rachel Chu.

I was like, "I know how to tell that story."

At first, it was gonna be an independent production

'cause we didn't think a studio would back this thing.

And then we got the call from Warner Bros.

which seemed like a place that was unthinkable for a movie like this.

But they said, "This is part of our tradition.

We were started by immigrants."

They have a tradition of telling stories

of different cultures, and different perspectives.

And immediately, they were in.

Three, two, one, action!

I was very excited not to just make a romcom

starring an Asian-American

but to make one

that was about class and identity struggles.

That was about relationships with your parents

and with generational differences.

I'm not leaving 'cause I'm scared.

Or because I think I'm not enough.

Because...

maybe for the first time in my life...

I know I am.

That's the end of the movie.

It's not about getting the guy.

It's about her standing up for her own self-worth.

And we were thinking of putting in

Coldplay's "Yellow."

Warner Bros. was very worried about

"Well, what does that say? How are people gonna interpret that?"

And I said to them, I was like

"I wanna re-own that word. And this song can do that for us."

And they trusted me.

So at first, Coldplay wasn't gonna allow us to use it.

So I wrote this letter.

"Dear Chris, Guy, Jonny, and Will

I know it's a bit strange

but my whole life, I've had a complicated relationship

with the color yellow

from being called the word in a derogatory way

throughout grade school

to watching movies where they called cowardly people yellow.

It's always had a negative connotation in my life.

That is, until I heard your song.

For the first time in my life

it described the color

in the most beautiful, magical ways I'd ever heard.

The color of the stars.

Her skin.

Love.

It will give the generation of Asian Americans and others

the same sense of pride I got when I heard your song.

I want all of them to have an anthem

that makes them feel as beautiful

as your words and melody made me feel when I needed it most."

And then a couple hours later, they replied

and we got the rights to it, so.

I wrote it over there in the edit room, on the couch.

When I first watched Crazy Rich Asians

in a movie theater

I was really emotional.

When I started in the '80s

there was just so few opportunities for Asian actors.

I would go watch movies all the time

and I would always fantasize or dream

that the lead of the movie would be...

would have an Asian face that looked like me.

So when I first saw Crazy Rich Asians

in the movie theater

it meant everything to me.

That movie is the reason why I decided to get back into acting

after a 22-year break.

I'm having this whole second act is because of this movie.

And I'm so grateful to Warner Bros.

that made this movie and also to everybody involved.

Jon Chu's vision for an all-Asian romcom soared past expectations

becoming one of the biggest movies of the year.

But behind the scenes

a new mega merger had landed at the studio.

After a two-year battle with the Department of Justice

telecom behemoth AT&T took control of Time Warner

branding the new joint company, WarnerMedia.

The studio underwent numerous restructuring efforts

Eventually leading to Ann Sarnoff

becoming the first female CEO of Warner Bros.

How do you tell stories and make programming

whether it's feature films

or television or games

that are relevant

to this next generation?

I think that's a big challenge for all of us in the business.

To capture the attention of a new generation

the studio gambled on a cutting-edge vision

to reintroduce one of the most iconic figures in music history.

Elvis was unlike any movie journey

I've ever been on.

Like, I can't tell you how many people said to me

"Yeah, but how are you gonna find an Elvis?"

Not only is he an unbelievable vocal character

but also he's one of the most handsome and attractive people

that ever walked the face of the earth.

And then there's the way he moved.

So the finding of Austin Butler and the casting process...

I now look at it and go

"Actually, I think I didn't find Austin.

I think Austin found it."

Well, that's all right, Mama

That's all right for you

That's all right, Mama

He was born to play that role.

We knew that in Austin, a new star was born.

With the perfect Elvis cast

and Tom Hanks set to play the infamous Colonel Tom Parker

production began in Australia in March 2020.

We're shooting on the film

and we're doing a scene where Colonel Tom Parker

is guiding Elvis through the showroom.

And I'm about to say, "Look, let's bring Tom now into the scene."

And with Tom we explores idea.

And as I do, my first assistant says

"Hey, Tom has to leave the set. I think he's got that flu thing."

And the rest of the world knows what happens next, right?

I was actually on an airplane.

And I got a text.

"Confidential, Tom Hanks tested positive for COVID.'

The Medical Officials have protocol

that must be followed.

We Hanks' will be tested

observed and isolated

for as long as public health

and safety requires."

"Okay, we gotta shut down. What are we doing?

Is Tom okay? What's going on?"

If this evolves

into a pandemic

there's no way we

in the United States

are gonna escape

having more infections

in this country.

And then the next thing, hazmat suits

and shutting down sets and the film's over.

The pandemic shut down all film productions

and movie theaters across the country

putting the future of the entire film industry in jeopardy.

There was a real concern that the big movie theater chains

wouldn't be able to survive COVID.

Is this gonna just make people

not wanna go to movie theaters anymore?

It was scary.

And this is where Warners comes in.

I said, "Look, I am making this movie for movie theaters."

"You need to see Elvis, the movie and Elvis the man.

And Elvis, the performer, on a big screen."

Austin Butler and Baz never left Australia.

They stayed there, they rode out COVID

and they made this movie

under these newly devised COVID protocols.

I mean, to me, that's a miracle.

Mr. Presley.

Are you ready to fly?

I'm ready. Ready to fly.

It got people into theaters.

It's one of the most successful original films

to be released since COVID.

My singular focus in making a movie

is to bring all kinds of people

to come and sit in a dark room with strangers

for everyone to be united

from what's going up on that flickering screen.

And for a few brief moments, not to feel alone.

You know, we all laugh together. We all cry together.

We're all moved together. We're all touched together.

We are not alone.

There's a lot of ways

that we consume content on small screens, on TV screens.

But when you go to a motion picture

everything stops.

When I was about 17 years old

on a Saturday afternoon

my dad took me to a motion picture

and the lights went out

and there was this giant screen.

And Bonnie and Clyde came on.

And it was like magic.

That was for me, the beginning of this journey for my life.

A kid that grew up in Brooklyn

and was inspired

by so many of the movies that Warner Bros. made.

And here I am.

Which, for me is...

It's the stuff that dreams are made of.

It's hard to believe.

AT&T set to combine

WarnerMedia with Discovery

creating a media powerhouse.

AT&T's WarnerMedia and Discovery

agree to merge.

Discovery's boss David Zaslav

will run this new combined company.

Well, hello, Warner Bros. Discovery!

Were there other names thrown out?

How did you come to Warner Bros. Discovery?

I just said we have to use Warner Bros.

because I don't want a corporate name.

Warner Bros. stands for these four guys.

The Warner Bros. Discovery merger

capped off two decades of acquisitions

rebranding and corporate instability.

The marriage resulted in a powerhouse portfolio.

Together, we have a chance to be

the greatest entertainment company

in the world...

because we have the most content

the most platforms

and we're more global than any other media company.

When you think about the tremendous amount

of intellectual property that exists at this company

the opportunities are just so rich.

But it is imperative for us to be making shows

that really reflect the world around us.

It's about who's telling the stories

who's behind the scenes.

People understand that

talent can come from anywhere.

This is just the wave now.

And I do think Warner Bros.

has done a good job of that.

They're opening their arms to that a little bit more.

We think it's really important

to find filmmakers and voices

that tell authentic stories

positive stories about what it looks like to be them

or what their culture feels like.

Those filmmakers are worth their weight in gold.

Those storytellers that understand

that you're part of a tribe

you feel like you're part of a collective humanity.

Don't you sometimes wonder if it's worth all this?

I mean what you're fighting for.

You might as well question why we breathe.

If we stop breathing, we'll die.

Each of us has a destiny, for good or for evil.

When you tell a great story, you can change minds.

The Warner Bros. understood that.

Steve Ross understood that.

And so when you think about Warner Bros. today

it's about building on the incredible success over the last 100 years.

What began as a family affair

has grown into a global empire of entertainment.

Since its inception, the studio has developed talent

into risk takers

trailblazers, and visionaries.

In return, those fearless voices have reflected

and shaped our culture.

I think what's made Warner Bros. last 100 years

is that inclination

to swing for the fences and trust filmmakers.

It's a dangerous story for this paper.

Fuck it, let's stand by the boys.

Throughout the decades, storytellers have embraced

the pioneering spirit of the founders.

That same courage will inspire the next century.

We do this 'cause we're supposed to.

It's a calling.

You answered.

What it means to tell stories

in a world that is craving direction and hope

has more value now than ever before.

One of the great things about being here on the lot

is not just the legacy.

It's not what happened here, who's been here.

It's who is here.

We all came together for the same reason.

To fight to tell a great story.

And to make a difference.

We love this business.

And we have more stories to tell.